Door-check



Patented lan. 3, |899.

No. amos.

I. LAHSEN.

DOOR CHECK.

(Application led Aug'. 13, 1897.)

3 Sheets-Sheet l.

ma Model.)

Wze S ecs.

No. 617,!06. Patentedlan. 3, |899.

l. LARSEN.

DOOR CHECK.

(Apphcatxon led Aug. 13, 1897 (No Model.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.`

Nm emma.

l. LARSEN.

DUUR CHECK.

(No Nudel.)

(Application led Aug. 13. 1897.)

'Patented 1an. 3, |899.

lUNrrn ra'rns arri IVERT LARSEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DOOR-CHECK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent o. 617 ,106, dated January 3, V1899.

Application filed August 13, 1897. Serial No. 648,161. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, IvER'r LARsnN, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door-Checks; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to double acting check and spring apparatus for swinging doors and comprises a pair of intermeshing elliptical or eccentric gears properly mounted and combined with a check or a spring, or both, in such manner that the door may swing either way from its closed position and in either swing may actuate and be acted upon by the check or spring, or both, as the case may be.

Referring to the accompanying drawings as illustrations of desirable forms of my invention, Figure l is a side view, partly in vertical section, of my invention as it may be constructed to contain both a spring for closing the double-swinging door and a pneumatic check for controlling the closing movements of the door, the apparatus in this case being applied to the side of a door and connected with the door-frame by means of a lever. Fig. 2 is a top view, partly in horizontal section, of the construction shown in Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the door-frame, door, lever, and slotted guide-plate, taken in the line 3 3 of Fig. l, showing the form of engagement of the actuating-lever with the door-frame. Fig. 4t is a side view, partly in section, showing the eccentric gears and vlever applied to the side of a door and combined with a pneumatic check without a closing-sprin g. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section in the line 5 5 of Fig. LI of the familiar form of doubleacting spring-hinge seen in side view in Fig. 4 and that may be employed with the gears and check shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a side View of a construction containing a closingspring Without a check and applied to the side of a door. Fig. 7 is avertical section of a construction in which the device is situated and housed under the floor beneath the door and the gears have actuating connection with the door through the medium of the lower vertical pivot of the door. Fig. 8 is a top view of the construction shown in Fig. 7, the door-plate being removed. Fig. 9 illustrates a modification of the spring shown in Fig. l and other figures of the drawings.

First descrbing Figs. l to 6, inclusive, A represents a base-plate adapted to be secured to the vertical face of a door B by means of screws, as indicated, and B B2 are bearings fast to the base-plate for vertical shafts b Zu', on the lower extremities of which shafts are formed or secured, near their ends, the constantly-intermeshing elliptical gears C C', respectively arranged heel and toe, as shown. D is a lever fixed at one ofits ends to the upper end of the shaft b and at the other provided with a stud d, which runs in a slot e in the plate E, here shown as being secured in the lower face of the door-frame F over the door. A gain b2 is shown in the top of the door to give room for the lever D and to permit it to follow the door in either swing of the latter. An opening movement of the door in either direction will obviously cause the lever D to rotate the gear C, which in turn rotates the gear C. Said gears having their major axes parallel with the door and the gear C having its longer arm engaged with the shorter arm of the gear C, the rotation of the gear C thus produced is at first relatively rapid and diminishes in speed the farther the door is opened. To combine these gears with a pneumatic check, the lower end of the shaft b' is shown provided with a crank C2, arranged to normally stand parallel with the door and connected bya pitman G in line with the crank with a piston or plunger H, which is fitted to slide within an air-cyli nder I, that is provided with the usual or any suitable openings and valves for the admission and egress of air, as seen at the left in Fig. l. The plunger will be retracted in openin g the door in either direction, and the checking action upon the door will be produced as it approaches a closed position in the same manner as in a single-acting apparatus. The employment of a check implies the presence of a spring or other means for closing the door from either of its open positions; but the check may be employed without positive closing means Where the door is hung in a passage having a strong IOO draft, for example. The spring may be of any suitable form for this purpose-as, for example, the ordinary double-acting springhinge shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

To directly combine the gears with a special spring adapted to close the door from either open position, the upper end of the shaft Z9' is shown in Figs. I, 2, and 6 as being provided with a pinion C2, which is engaged with a horizontally-sliding rack K. To this rack is attached a rod K', which extends through an expansible coiled spring L, confined at its ends between the separately-movable collars L' L2, which abut outwardly against fixed plates A A2. Said collars are also adapted to permit the rod K to slide through them except as restrained by the retainingnuts K2 K3 on the rod K. In this construction when the door is opened in either direction the rod K is moved in the direction of its length, carrying one of the collars L L2 against the spring and sliding through the other, thus effecting a compression of the spring. Vhen the door is released, the spring returns the rod and rack and closes the door, the closing movement being produced with increased force by means of the illustrated arrangement of the elliptical gears through which the spring acts upon the lever D.

In Figs. I and 2 the apparatus is shown as containing within a unitary organism both a spring and a check, as when applied to doors Without spring-hinges.

The device as shown in Fig. 41E- that is, having the check Without the closing-sprin gmay be applied to doors already provided with spring-hinges-such, for example, as that illustrated at M in Figs. 4 and 5. On the other hand,the device as shown in Figs. l and 2 or G-that is, with the closing-spring as part of the organized apparatus-may be used with the plain pivot-pin hinge seen at h in these figures or with any other form of hinge which permits the door to swing both Ways from its closed position.

Next describing the adaptation of the invention to a place beneath the floor at the bottom of the door, as illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8, the shaft of the gear C is shown to be the lower vertical pivot of the door and as having a squared upper end which fits a correspondingly-shaped metal socket-piece N, let into the lower part of the door. The bearings B B2 are in this case shown as being formed in a cast-metal box O, provided with a ange o around its top for its suspension from the floor or threshold, as shown in Fig.

7, the top opening of the box being covered by a removable metal plate O. Both a spring and a check are embraced in this construction, and these are supported from the box referred to.

In Fig. 9 is shown a spring device comprising two springs instead of one. Both these springs are supported by fixed abutments at their outer ends, and between them is afixed collar 7a on the rod K.

A spring may be employed within the checkcylinder I, if desired, as indicated by dotted lines of Fig. I, either in lieu of any other spring or springs or in reinforcement thereof; but the separate spring, operated by the rack and pinion, as shown in Figs. 2, 6, and other figures of the drawings, is preferred.

Pointing out more minutely and for the aid of the mechanic certain specific features of construction shown in the drawings and not above particularly described, the spring L in Figs. l, 2, 6, 7, and 8 is inclosed in a tube or cylindric casing L2, which serves as a guide for the collars L' L2 when the spring is retracted in either direction, a suitable washer 7o', fitting the tube, being provided on the rod adjacent to each collar. The plate A2, forming one of the heads or end supports of the check -cylinder and of the spring, is rigid with the base-plate A or box O, and the opposite plate A is a separate piece held in place by the tie-rods a a, which pass to the fixed head-plate A2. In Figs. 7 and 8 the outer support for the spring is connected with the check-cylinder head A by means of an arm a.

In Fig. 7 the check-cylinder is shown widely open at its inner end, while in the arrangement shown in Figs. I, 2, and 4 it is closed by the head A2, the passage a2, through which the pitman G moves, being of course Wide enough to allow the necessary vibration thereof called for by the crank C2. l

The head A of the check-cylinder I is desirably made with the hollow offset A3, Fig. l, to guard the flexible flap-valve I), which controls the inlet-openings a2 u2. The regulating device for the discharge of the air consists of the long screw P2, threaded through the closed head of the check-cylinder and provided with a lengthwise-tapered groove p in one side thereof. Running the screw out or in enlarges or contracts the escape-opening formed by this groove to give the precise checking action desired. The adjustment should be such that the door in closing will come to a practical stop a little before reaching its fully-closed position, but will then immediately close by action of its spring or permit of being at once closed and pushed open in the opposite direction by a person having occasion to pass through it that way.

The lever D in the arrangement shown in Figs. l, 2, 4:, and G is given the bent form shown in Fig. 2 solely for the purpose of filling a large portion of the gain h2 cut in the top of the door for its accommodation.

The reason of the reversed arrangement of the elliptic gears C and C in the two described applications of the invention will be readily understood.

The rod K has screw-threaded connection with the rack K, and the retaining-nuts K2 K2 are secured from turning on the shaft by Cotter-pins or like means, so that by means of awrench applied to either of said nuts K2 or Ks the rod may be turned in the rack-bar IOO IIO

and thereby adjusted relatively to the same. Such endwise adjustment of the rod with respect to the rack has the effect of changing the angular position of the door-when closed, and the adjusting device is brought into use when it is desired to bring the door accurately to a certain position-as, for instance, when two doors are used and it is desired to bring them exactly into alinement with each other. A jam-nut 7a2 on the rod K bears against the end of the :rack to hold the rod from turning when adj usted.

The invention is not restricted to the precise details of construction shown, but is understood to embrace modifications involving the essential principles of the illustrations. Notably the parts which in Fig. l to 6 are applied to the door may be applied to the door-frame, in which case the slotted plate E will be attached to the door.

I claim as my inventionl. rlhe combination of a doubleactin g door and a door-check, with a pair of oppositelyrotatable elliptical gears intermeshing in normal heel-and-toe relation, operative connections between one of said gears and the check, and means actuating the other gear `when the door is swung in either direction,

substantially as described.

2. In combination with a double acting door, a pair of intermeshing, elliptical gears mounted and arranged in normal heel-andtoe .relation7 as shown, with their major axes in or parallel with the plane of the closed door, one of said gears having a suitable connection through which it is rotated by move* ment of the door in either direction from its closed position and the other having a crank connection with the piston of a pneumatic check acting to check the door when closing from either direction so arranged that the crank will be at one limit of its throw when the door is closed.

3. The combination of a double-acting door and a spring operating to close the door in either direction, with a pair of elliptical gears intermeshing in normal heel-and-toe relation, operative connections between one of said gears and the spring, and means actuating the other gear when the door is opened in either direction, substantially as described.

4. The combination of a doubleacting door, aspring operating to close the door from either direction, and a check resisting the closing actions oi' the spring, with two oppositely-rotatable elliptical gears intermeshing in normal heel-and-toe relation, operative connections between one of said gears and the check, and means actuating the other gear when the door is swung in either direction, substantially as described.

5. In combination with a double acting door, a pair of oppositely-rotatable, intermeshing, elliptical gears arranged in normal heel-and-toe relation with their major axes in or parallel with the plane of the closed door7 the shaft of the primary gear having a suitn able connection by which it is rotated by movement of the door in either direction from its closed position and the shaft of the secondary gear having both a crank and a pinion, a pneumatic door-check having its piston connected with said crank, a double-acting spring, and a rod provided with a rack engaged with the pinion and adapted to engage and compress the spring in the opening movements of the door in both directions.

6. The combination of a double-acting door and a door-check, with a pair of oppositelyrotatable elliptical gears intermeshing in heeland-toe relation, operative connections between one of said gears and the check, means actuating the other gear when the door is swung in either direction, a pinion on the shaft of the former gear, a rack engaging said pinion, and a spring acting in opposition to the movement of the rack in the opening of the door, substantially as described.

7. In combination with a double acting door, a pair of oppositely rotatable intermeshing elliptical gears arranged in heel-anda toe relation with their major axes in or par; allel with the plane of the closed door, a lever connected to the shaft of the'primary gear and connected to the door-frame so as to be operated by the swing of the door, a crank carried by the secondary gear, a pneumatic check acting on the door when closing from either direction, and connections between the piston of the check and said crank, whereby the piston is retracted in the opening movement of the door in either direction so as to give checking action upon the door in closing, substantially as described.

8. The combination of a double-acting door and means normally holding the same in closed position, with a check operating to check the door when closing from either direction, two rotatable elliptical gears intermeshing in normal heel-and-toe relation, operative connections between one of said gears and the check, and means actuating the other gear when the door is swung in either direction, substantially as described.

9. The combination of a double-acting door, a spring operating to close the door in either direction, and a check operating to check the door when closing from either direction, with two opposit-ely-rotatable elliptical gears intermeshing in normal heel-and-toe relation, one of said gears being operatively connected to the spring and to the check and the other to the door, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as myinvention I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this 11th day of August, A. D. '1897'.

IVERT LARSEN.

Vitnesses:

TAYLOR E. BROWN, R. CU'rHBERT VIvIAN.

IIO

IZO 

